1 / 21

Teaching and Mentoring Students

Teaching and Mentoring Students Lori A. Clarke University of Massachusetts, Amherst Teaching and Mentoring An important part of a professor’s life Teach undergraduate courses Mentor undergraduates Teach graduate courses Mentor graduates The best of times, the worst of times

victoria
Télécharger la présentation

Teaching and Mentoring Students

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Teaching and Mentoring Students Lori A. Clarke University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  2. Teaching and Mentoring • An important part of a professor’s life • Teach undergraduate courses • Mentor undergraduates • Teach graduate courses • Mentor graduates • The best of times, the worst of times

  3. Best of Times • Play a part in improving someone’s life • See them gain confidence • See them grow intellectually and personally • See them develop skills • To do research • Write papers • Give presentations • To have a successful career • Worthwhile and rewarding endeavor • Lifelong learning experience for you

  4. Worst of Times • Preparing class material is time consuming • Assigning grades (hws, exams, course) takes a lot of time • Very important to the student • Try to be fair and objective • Unpleasant • Dealing with students who are unhappy with their grade • Dealing with students who just want to pass • Dealing with cheating • Dealing with excuses • …

  5. Teaching Conundrum • Must do an adequate job in your teaching to achieve tenure • Can never spend enough time on teaching to get it “right” • Lectures, projects, exams,… could always be better • If you spend too much time on teaching, you will not get tenure

  6. ClassroomTeaching • Put syllabus, assignments, course notes online • Be clear about expectations • Late assignments, missing assignments, make-up policy • Individual or team efforts • Consequences of cheating • Only change requirements if necessary and do so only to the students’ benefit • Encourage interaction in the classroom • There are no “bad” questions • Make lemonaid out of lemons • Make participation a required part of the class • Informal or formal

  7. Classroom Teaching • Be prepared--takes time, but worth it • Be on time • Be available during stated office hours and respond to email • Help students individually • Be responsive when special needs arise • But, not obligated to re-teach course to a student who has not done their part • Not attended the lectures • Not read the material

  8. Classroom Teaching • Make the class challenging, but not impossible • Assess how well the class is going • Mid point evaluation • questionnaire, classroom feedback, email • End of semester evaluation • Plan when to distribute the questionnaire • Teaching concerns • Ask someone you respect and trust to observe your class and provide feedback • Team teach with a “good teacher” • Use campus teaching support services

  9. Teaching Portfolio • Develop a portfolio of courses you can teach • Low level, high level, graduate level courses • Teach classes close to your research area • Limit number of courses in your portfolio • First time course development is time consuming • Reuse past material (yours or others) • Refresh or introduce some new material each time you reteach a course • Remember, it can always be better, but… • Best researchers are usually good (and often great) teachers

  10. Teaching Graduate Courses • Teach in area of expertise (or in areas where you want to gain expertise) • Attracts graduate students • Helps you assess graduate students • Courses deeper and faster paced • MUST be prepared • Reputation depends to some extent on how well you teach graduate classes • You will learn a lot

  11. Teaching Graduate Courses • Important goals • Teach new concepts, new ways to solve problems • Encourage critical thinking • Teach the scientific method • Hypothesis and evaluation • Teach good communication skills • Writing and speaking

  12. Mentoring Undergraduates • Advising • Classes to take • Career planning • Insist on a face-to-face meeting • Don’t just cover the basics • Find out how they are “really” doing • Discuss career options • Graduate school • Industrial options • Volunteer to review job or graduate school application material • Encourage students: a kind word can mean a great deal, especially to students from underrepresented groups

  13. Undergraduate Research • Need a well-defined, limited research project with easy to track milestones • Should not be on the critical path • Can pair ungrad(s) with a grad student • Include ugrads in lab activities • Meet regularly and lay out well defined goals • Many ways to “fund” undergrads • Grant funding, REUs • Independent study, honors project • Need to match project with student’s skills • Often need to adjust on the fly

  14. Mentoring Graduate Students • Meet regularly • Review accomplishments since the last meeting • Encourage students to bring work products, to keep an (electronic) notebook • Provide feedback • strengths and weaknesses • Agree on what the student is expected to accomplish next • Let the student propose next steps • Revise accordingly • e.g., too ambitious, too limited, should pursue some intermediate steps or totally new direction • Discuss short term goals (e.g. next meeting) • Review longer term, broader goals • Reveal your thought processes

  15. How to get students started doing research • Push them off a cliff and see if they land on their feet • Teach them how to rappel first • Start out with a “relatively” well defined task • Discuss the problems that arise and encourage them to think of solutions • Help direct their search for solutions • Revisit the task and view it from a larger perspective, widen the problem and repeat • Reveal your thought processes • Discuss alternatives • Explain choices • Lead, collaborate, follow

  16. When is a student finished? • One size does not fit all • Accomplishments will impact • Advisor’s letter of recommendation • Job choices

  17. Many topics to cover • How to do research • Different paradigms • How to review and evaluate the literature • How to communicate with colleagues • 3 minute elevator talk, 10 minute version • How to give a presentation • Outline first • Review slides • Practice talk(s) • How to write-up results for a paper • Outline, outline, outline

  18. And more topics • What to publish and where • How to obtain grants • How to behave professionally • How to look for a job • Balancing life and career after graduation • …

  19. Not all graduate students are diamonds hidden in the rough • Discuss the problem • Consider different approaches • Consider different research areas • Put the student on a measured mile, with clear objectives • May help make it clear to you and to the student that it is not working • Or may energize the student to do better • Perhaps the student is not a good match with • your personality • your research style or area • or maybe the student should not be a graduate student

  20. Lifelong committment • “Advisor” for life • Always available to help with problems • Promote (former) student’s career • Recommend for program committees, awards, workshops, etc.

  21. Last words • Will not get tenure based on good teaching, but may not get tenure because of bad teaching • You have tremendous influence • Use it wisely • Praise good work • Encourage students • Best part of being a faculty member is working with students • Enjoy the experience!

More Related